Playing With Food
by Amelia E. Grey
Summary: Jenny, Vastra, and a small freezing kitten. a tasty meal or a new friend?


Playing With Food

Jenny and Madame Vastra were walking home on a cold evening in February after solving a case that they had found particularly interesting. They had their cloaks wrapped tightly around their bodies and their hoods pulled over their heads as a light snow began to fall. Arms linked, they were walking beside each other discussing bits of the case. As they rounded a corner Vastra began to complain about the terrible cold, as soon as they got home Jenny sent Vastra upstairs to change from her wet clothes so she didn't begin to go into shock and then she started making a fire. Once the fire was roaring she herself went upstairs to change into her own dry clothes.

Jenny came back downstairs to find Vastra curled up in her chair by the fire; she walked over and joined her. As soon as Jenny was in the Chair Vastra wrapped her arms around her and pulled her as close as she could to her own body. Jenny's head nestled under hers, a small sigh escaped Vastra's lips as the warmth from Jenny engulfed her. Other than the crackling of the fire the house was silent, the two content just to be holding each other. Jenny could feel Vastra's head twitching slightly above hers, _she hears something. _

Being a Silurian meant Vastra had better hearing than humans so she often heard thing that Jenny couldn't. "Vastra" Jenny whispered softly as she brought her arm from around Vastra and lifted it to her cheek.

There was an unmistakable feel to Vastra's scales. They were cool to the touch yet not cold and they were smooth, a lot smoother then Jenny had expected the first time she felt them. One might expect scales to feel grimy or dirty but Vastra's weren't, she kept herself clean like any human would do.

"What is it?" she moved so now her head was above Vastra's. Vastra ignored her and tried to curl into a ball half on top of Jenny. She was pretending like she didn't hear anything anymore but Jenny could clearly tell she did, and it was beginning to bother Vastra. Jenny's traced her thumb along Vastra's jawline bringing it to rest at her chin, before tilting Vastra's face up towards her so she had no choice but to look at her. "What do you hear? It's obviously something."

"There's a kitten outside, with a high pitched mew, and it won't stop. I think it is starving, but it doesn't matter I'm not hungry so if it would just go away. . . ." All Jenny had to hear was kitten and she was getting up from her chair and heading towards the door. "No point in getting it, it's probably very furry and it would be too skinny! Jenny, Jenny come back! It's freezing outside." Too late Jenny was out the door in nothing but her short sleeve nightgown.

"Jenny!" Vastra got up and started to get her cloak. If she was going to go after Jenny she would have to cover herself first.

It was times like these that Vastra found herself annoyed with everything, humans, the Doctor, Everybody. She was mad at humans because she had to cover all of her skin around them and she was mad at the Doctor for leaving her in such a place, He spoke of a future where humans and Silurian's coexist yet he left her back in the 1800's where she had to hide who she was. She felt that he should have brought her to that future where she could be accepted. Of course one look at Jenny and all of her annoyance and anger went away; if the Doctor hadn't left her there she would have never found her.

She got outside and saw Jenny sitting on the ground, in the snow, holding her hand out to a miniscule kitten with soaking wet, matted fur that was clinging to its body and revealing just how under fed it was. Jenny scooped up the kitten and started coming towards Vastra. "What are you doing with it?" Vastra was very confused.

"I'm going to take it inside to clean it and feed it." Walking past Vastra she went back into the house, Vastra followed. "But I've been trying to tell you that we don't need any food and that cat is way too small to actually provide much, have you properly looked at it? It's pathetic."

"We aren't going to eat it!" She got a towel and wrapped the cat in it. "Kittens aren't for eating!" Vastra sat in her chair as Jenny put water over the fire to heat up. "They are warm, smaller than me, and easy to catch! That makes them a source of food though, doesn't it?" Jenny went to her chair, "I am warm and smaller than you but I'm not food!"

"Did you forget what I ate for dinner earlier this evening?" Choosing not to respond Jenny went to the kitchen and got a washcloth, and then she went and got another towel before returning to the living room. She took the water off from the fire, she wanted it warm but not hot. Before she bathed the cat she poured the water into a large basin and wet the washcloth. She didn't put the cat into the water because she didn't think it could swim and it was too small to stand in it, if it even had the strength to stand. Vastra stayed in her chair the whole time just watching Jenny bathe the cat. Jenny was being unusually quiet, and Vastra may not be an expert on humans but she knew Jenny, something was bothering her. Not knowing how to bring it up Vastra remained silent and watched as Jenny finished bathing the cat, dried it, and brought it some spare meat. Just when Vastra was going to talk to Jenny, Jenny left the room and went upstairs. She came back down a few minutes later, picked up the now empty bowl from the cat and went into the kitchen. Vastra just stared at the cat which was now sleeping exactly where Jenny had left it.

Vastra gave up on talking to Jenny and went up to go to bed; _I'll talk to her in the morning. _Vastra was so used to falling asleep next to Jenny she had a hard time falling asleep. She didn't know what Jenny was still doing with the cat but by the time Vastra finally fell asleep Jenny still hadn't come upstairs. Vastra woke up in the morning, freezing, Jenny still wasn't there.

Vastra got up and stiffly began walking downstairs to make a fire, some tea, and warm up. When she got into the living room she saw Jenny sprawled out awkwardly on the floor. She had one hand on the cat, her other tucked under her head and she was lying halfway on her stomach with her legs bent behind her. Vastra put a blanket over her before she went to make the tea. It was an odd sight for Vastra to see Jenny asleep in the morning. Jenny usually woke up long before Vastra did.

Putting enough water on for the both of them Vastra went back upstairs to change. She ran downstairs just after she finished changing because she heard the water was ready and wanted to get to it before it was loud enough to wake Jenny. Of course running down the stairs made enough noise to start to wake Jenny. Vastra went into the kitchen and began to make tea. Jenny finally got up, picked up the cat and walked her way into the kitchen. _She is still being quiet, did I do something? _She made a second cup of tea and offered it to Jenny "Tea?"

"I'm fine." with a pause, "Thank you." Vastra looked taken aback, _Jenny never turned down an offer of tea, I must've done something. _She place the cup on the table and walked over to Jenny who had the cat on the counter and looked very focused on checking it for any injuries she may have missed last night.

Vastra placed her right hand on Jenny's left shoulder, her left hand went in front of Jenny and took her right hand, and she spun her around so jenny was facing her. Her hand on Jenny's shoulder snaked its way down Jenny's arm, giving her hands a slight squeeze before she brought both of her hands to rest on Jenny's hips and planted a gentle kiss on the top of Jenny's head. "Jenny what's wrong?"

In the few seconds it took Vastra to do all of this Jenny went from smiling at the cat to a cold emotionless face. She looked up to Vastra but left her alone in the embrace. "Nothing's wrong." She shrugged away from Vastra's arms and went back to the cat. Vastra couldn't move, she was trying not to look like Jenny had hurt her. "You've barely said a word to me since last night, you're spending every moment with the cat and you slept down here on the floor instead of upstairs in our bed. Now I may not be the best with reading the human spectrum of emotions but I know you, something's bothering you and it's obviously me."

"I'm fine, nothing's wrong!"

"Jenny, you're lying to me, and I don't know why, talk to me."

"I'm Fine!" she shouted before she tried to walk away but Vastra grabbed her hand. "Jenny!"

"Vastra! I said I was fine, now let go of me!" she shook free of Vastra's grip and briskly left the kitchen. Following her to the base of the stairs Vastra saw Jenny going into a room neither had used for months, Jenny's old bedroom. The loud sound the door made when Jenny closed it was enough for Vastra to know following her was out of the question. Vastra went into the living room willing to wait for Jenny to leave, _as long as she comes out soon._ Stopping a few feet from her chair she didn't know what to do. The cat had found its way from the kitchen and was now asleep right where Vastra wanted to sleep. Vastra didn't want to get near it so she went and sat in Jenny's chair.

After several hours Jenny still hadn't come from her room and Vastra was beginning to get anxious.

_What could she be doing? _She decided to check on Jenny and try to talk with her again. "Jenny?" she lightly tapped on the door, no response. She poked her head into Jenny's room and saw jenny was in bed, her back turned to the door, _asleep? Jenny doesn't sleep during the day! She's the one who makes fun of me when I sleep the day away._ Vastra left Jenny, realizing her eyelids were growing heavy from last night's unrestful sleep she too decided to go to bed. When she got to her room she didn't bother with her clothes and wrapped herself up in all of the blankets but she was still cold. "Vastra, come on you slept by yourself for a long time before Jenny surely you can do it again! You're a Silurian you don't need a human to keep you warm!" she muttered to herself, _but you need Jenny._

She eventually fell asleep so she didn't hear when Jenny got up and went downstairs to feed the cat, and herself.

In the morning when it was still dark Vastra was determined to get Jenny to talk, Silurian pride set aside, Vastra was cold last night and she hated going through the day yesterday without Jenny. She sat in her chair and made a fire while she waited for Jenny to wake up. The sun had risen long ago and was reaching its peak when Vastra finally heard Jenny moving around upstairs. She didn't want to confront Jenny right away so she just said hello when she saw her come downstairs. "Morning." Jenny responded politely but averted her eyes from Vastra as she walked to the kitchen.

Jenny walked back out "I'm going down to the market, we have no more bread." Jenny got her coat and left before Vastra could protest, or decide to go with her. "I can't believe she is still ignoring me!" Sfdshe mumbled as she went to the window and watched Jenny walk down the street.

When Jenny returned Vastra was waiting, slightly impatiently, for Jenny to come back. Jenny went into the kitchen ate her food and then went to her chair in the living room. "We need to talk"; _you need to talk to me_. Vastra said after a few moments of silence had fallen between them. Jenny sighed _She isn't going to let this go._ "Vastra if you are so keen on us speaking, speak."

_I can talk, I want us to talk. _"Fine, ever since the night you found that cat you've started to ignore me and now we aren't even sleeping in the same bed anymore. I just want you to tell me why." Jenny gave up on ignoring her she might as well tell her, she couldn't ignore her forever.

_"_Sometimes I wonder what we are, what I am to you." Once she started to talk she couldn't stop. "Sometimes I feel like I'm just your pet, like you only keep me around for entertainment and that I view our relationship completely differently than you. I mean you basically called me your food."

Vastra walked over to Jenny and slipped her arms around her waist. "Silly human." She said smiling to Jenny who was concentrating very hard on her feet as she stared downwards, embarrassed at everything that she just said in her sudden burst of emotions. "You know I'm your, as humans say 'girlfriend', and I thought it was quite clear how I feel about you, but obviously it isn't." Jenny looked up at her. "Jenny, I love you. I eat the big, bad, creepy, criminals; not the cute, adorable, housemaids." The embarrassment on Jenny's face quickly left to be replaced with surprise then joy. "I love you too."

Vastra smiled, "Besides if anyone's being kept around for _entertainment_, I think its me." she said smugly. That got her a playful slap on the arm.

A/N

I had written this to try and get out of the writers block I was dealing with for my vhapter fic, and it worked. To anyone reading my chapter fic I will most likely update it soon.


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